The Art of War
by MasterGhandalf
Summary: Red X warns the Titans that General Immortus is plotting world domination. They must stop the Forever Soldier- but can they trust X's motivations?
1. Prologue: The Immortal

**The Art of War**

**Prologue- The Immortal**

The army marched in perfect formation, the brutal desert sun gleaming on their weapons. They did not march to war- not yet- but rather to show their might and discipline to the man who had trained them, the man who led them now, the man who watched from a rocky rise. The oldest man on earth. As he stood there, watching those who would implement the final stage of his centuries of scheming, that man allowed his thoughts to wander down long unused paths to where it had all begun.

He was born in a kingdom that had not existed in thousands of years- was so old, in fact, that history long ago forgot it. He was the greatest servant of the king of that land, leading his forces to victory time and again. But though he grew mighty, the king also grew old, and he came to fear death more than any enemy. And so the loyal soldier had volunteered to help his master find the secret of eternal life.

Well he remembered the day, so many millennia later upon the rock. The king had summoned all his sorcerers and alchemists and priests, and they had laid the soldier upon an altar, attending to him with their prayers and spells and potions. He didn't know which had done it- or what combination- but when he awoke his body had aged to a withered thing, more like the mummies the Egyptians had just begun to create than a living man. But his mind and body remained as strong as ever- and from that day forward, he never aged again.

The king was overjoyed, but the process could not be replicated. The king died like any other man, and in time history forgot he had ever existed. But the soldier lived on far beyond the span of human life, accumulating such knowledge of war as no mere mortal could ever know. He traveled the world, fighting and learning, until he became a legend. Now kings and emperors came to him, begging for his advice and wisdom. He commanded the armies of the Pharaohs against the Hittites and the Nubians; he aided Augustus in his ascension to the imperial seat of Rome; he advised Sun Tzu when he wrote one of the great strategic works of all time.

Millennia later he adapted to new weapons and strategies, becoming a master of military technology as well as strategy. He was strongly drawn to the militarism of the German Empire, and he aided the madman Hitler in his quest for world domination. But in the end Hitler's obsession with his racial dreams led to his downfall, and the immortal soldier fell with him. He remained in prison for decades, charged as a Nazi war criminal.

But he had time to spare, and so he waited with a patience that only an immortal might know, and at least he was freed. His benefactors were unusual, even by the standards of the ages- a disembodied brain and a talking gorilla. But the old soldier knew an opportunity when he saw it, and so he became the head of the military arm of the international organization called the Brotherhood.

In the end, the Brotherhood was brought low- not by their old enemies, the Doom Patrol, but by a group of young upstarts called the Titans. The immortal went to prison again, but this time he had arranged for a swift breakout. Many Brotherhood soldiers had also escaped; they formed the core of his new army, an army that would soon scour the globe. Too long he had been a servant of others- now was the time to take matters into his own hands. The world had become a strange, broken place since his imprisonment in the forties. It was time someone set it back on its proper course.

He had picked up many names over the centuries, this old soldier. They called him the Immortal; the Forever Soldier, and other things of much the same meaning. He collected names as other men collected hunting trophies- or in this day and age, he mused, something ridiculous like postage stamps. But the name he favored now was the one that the Brain had given him. This was the name that would soon make the world tremble.

General Immortus.


	2. Chapter 1: The Visitor

**Chapter 1 – the Visitor**

_Why_, Robin thought irritably, _does it always have to be slime?_

It wasn't _always_ slime, of course- at least, not always the literal kind- but that seemed magnificently unimportant when one was lying on one's back on the street with the wind completely knocked out, and Plasmus was standing there with a look on his face- such as it was- that plainly said he intended to make one the first course of his next meal.

The ooze monster roared his triumph, and then a long, three-fingered hand snaked out from his body and reached down for the Teen Titans' fallen leader. Suddenly, though, Plasmus' cry changed from victory to fury as a bolt of light flashed down from the sky and struck him square in the torso. Plasmus went sprawling, coating everyone and everything unfortunate enough to be nearby in a thick layer of reddish-purple goo.

Robin staggered to his feet, brushing pieces of his enemy from his cape as he did so. Plasmus was far from the team's most dangerous enemy, he reflected, but he certainly was the most disgusting. That train of thought was interrupted, however, as his rescuer glided down from the sky and came to hover in front of him, a look of concern in her inhumanly green eyes.

"Robin?" she asked in a voice that spoke with the stilted hesitancy of someone unfamiliar with the language, but that carried its own music nonetheless, "Are you unharmed?"

"I'm not hurt, Starfire," Robin said as he pulled a particularly gooey piece of Plasmus from his hair. "Just a little grossed out. Thanks for the assist, though- I wasn't looking forward to becoming dinner."

"The pleasure is all mine, Robin," Star said. They both stood quietly for a moment, and then a loud voice brought them back to reality.

"Yo, lovebirds!" Cyborg called, "we need some help over here!"

Princess and warrior spun around in time to see Plasmus reforming himself in the center of the street. That was the major challenge of this particular enemy- he was almost completely mindless, but nearly impossible to damage.

From beyond Plasmus sounded a roar almost as loud as the monster's own, and more than its equal in savagery. A green tyrannosaur stalked towards the ooze creature, and plasmas rotated the upper part of his body completely around to meet this new challenge. The dinosaur hurled itself forward and was met by dozens of powerful arms that sprung out of Plasmus' body. Beast Boy roared again and tore at the slimy limbs, but they regenerated as quickly as they were destroyed. From the sidelines Cyborg fired his sonic cannon and Raven telekinetically hurled chunks of debris, but neither seemed to bother the monster in the slightest.

"All right, Starfire," Robin said, "looks like this calls for some serious firepower. Give me a hand!"

Starfire gripped Robin's arm tightly and then leapt into the air. From the higher vantage point flight offered, Robin could see the battle unfolding beneath him, and it was clear that neither side could gain any advantage. Reaching into a compartment on his belt, Robin drew out a small disk and nodded slightly. Starfire recognized the signal and dove, carrying her leader within reach of Plasmus' pulsating head. Robin deposited the bomb and then the two of them were airborne again, flying high over the battle still raging below.

"Starfire-NOW!" Robin shouted, his voice rising above the wind.

Star's eyes flared green for an instant and a starbolt formed in her free hand. With practiced aim she threw it hard at the bomb Robin had left behind. Just in time the team averted their eyes, and then a massive explosion rocked Plasmus' entire body. When the smoke cleared, small puddles of ooze littered the street, and in their midst lay a rather ordinary looking man who was fast asleep- Plasmus, in his true form.

Starfire gently deposited Robin on the ground, and then rather ruined the effect of doing so when she hugged him with what felt like enough force to crush a good-sized automobile. "We are victorious once again!" she shouted gleefully. "Now is the time for us to celebrate with the pizza and the soda!"

"Starfire," Robin said weakly as he extracted himself from her grip, "It's almost midnight."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Cyborg asked as he came walking towards them. Raven followed behind, careful not to get any of Plasmus on her cloak.

Robin smiled. "All right, team," he said. "I guess we deserve it."

"I shall bring the mustard!" Starfire declared grandly and shot off in the direction of the Tower. Robin shook his head. Only Starfire thought that mustard and pizza were two things that needed to be enjoyed simultaneously.

"Has anybody seen Beast Boy?" Raven suddenly asked. Robin quickly looked around, but he didn't see the green shapeshifter anywhere.

"How do you lose a whole T. Rex, anyway?" Cyborg asked. "Hey, BB! Where are you?"

Suddenly a particularly large Plasmus puddle began to bubble ominously, and then a small, slime coated figure rose from it, shaking himself off in a manner highly reminiscent of a wet dog.

"Next time, Robin, would you _please_ tell us before you do that?" it demanded. "I don't think I'm going to be clean again for a weak!"

"Yep, that's Beast Boy all right," Raven said.

Beast Boy sighed and looked around the street. "I seriously hope that the police aren't expecting us to clean this up," he muttered.

#############

The pizza was eaten, the soda (and mustard) was drained dry, and the Teen Titans were ready to return to their rooms for a good night's sleep before once again kicking the collective butts of the world's evil the next day- or at least, that was how Beast Boy put it, much cheered after eating an entire veggie pizza himself.

Yawning loudly, Cyborg moved over to his control panel to activate the Tower security system. Robin said good night to each of the team in turn and then hurried down the hallway to his room, where he was looking forward to getting some much needed rest.

The moment he entered his room, however, the teenaged martial artist knew that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it exactly, but he knew at once that danger was nearby. It was only a gut feeling, but years of crimefighting- first with Batman, now with the Titans- had taught him to trust his instincts.

Robin entered the room slowly and on alert, scanning for any details that might give the danger away. The room looked empty, and everything was quiet- almost too quiet. Then, he saw a handful of birdarangs lying in the middle of the floor- most definitely not where he'd left them. Someone was here.

Robin spun around, but even as he did so a figure tackled him, and they both went sprawling on the floor. His attacker seemed to be about his own size and very skilled, but Robin had picked up some tricks over the years. Kicking out behind him, he knocked his opponent backwards and then leapt to his feet to face him.

The figure that met Robin's gaze was a familiar one- a slender figure dressed entirely in black, except for the red slash marks on his costume and the skull-mask the covered his face. Robin knew that skull very well. He'd designed it.

"Red X?" he whispered.

"Long time no see, eh kid?" the dark figure asked. "Did you miss me?"

"What do you want?"

X stood there for a moment without moving or speaking, then lowered his head and spoke the four words that Robin had least expected to hear.. "I need your help."


	3. Chapter 2: The Threat

**Chapter 2- the Threat**

Robin simply stood there for a moment, not quite able to believe what he'd just heard. "You need _my_ help?" he was finally able to force out. Red X could not accurately be described as evil, but he was completely amoral and quite independent. The very idea that he would seek help from a team of teenaged superheroes was absurd.

X shrugged. "You weren't my first choice, believe me. I contacted a bunch of mercenaries and criminal groups, but they all backed out when they found out exactly what I needed. I figured, though, that you people would be crazy enough to take me up on it."

"What exactly do you want?" Robin asked. "If you want us to help you with something illegal, then you can get out of this Tower right now. Or, better yet, stick around- I've still got enough fight in me to take you out."

"Sure, kid," X said in a faintly mocking tone. "But don't worry- if I wanted to rob a bank or make off with some high-tech weapon to sell on the black market, I could do that myself. This is something a bit… bigger."

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked, getting rather impatient with the thief's talk.

X looked him directly in the eyes. "Does the name Immortus mean anything to you? _General _Immortus?"

"He worked for the Brain," Robin said. "He's in a prison in Europe now. What about him?"

"He's out," X said.

Almost before he'd finished speaking, Robin had his communicator open and activated. "Titans!" he said. "Meet me in the control room now. We have a situation."

############

Five minutes later, the Titans were gathered in the control room, looking tired and annoyed and shooting dirty looks at Red X where he stood nonchalantly beside the computer. Raven sat with her eyes closed and her head turned in the thief's direction; after a few seconds she sighed and turned to Robin.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" Robin asked.

Raven shook her head. "I can't tell. He's lied before, quite a bit- I could tell that much- but as to whether he's lying now? He could be telling the truth, or he could just be so good that he can fool me."

"I do not like this at all," Starfire put in. "If the Red X wished for out help, then why did he attack Robin?"

"And how'd he get in here, anyway?" Cyborg asked. "Nobody gets past my security system and gets away with it!"

X sighed. "I got in here the exact same way I did when I took this suit- and if you honestly think I'm going to tell you how I did _that_ then you're all as slow as your green friend there."

"Hey! Who're you calling slow!" Beast Boy shot back, and then rather ruined the effect by belching loudly. X ignored him.

"As to why I attacked Robin- I was bored. I'd been waiting for awhile in there and I wanted some action, so when the chance came I took it. I you'll notice, though, I didn't hurt him."

"Though you certainly tried!" Starfire snapped.

"Listen," X said, raising his hands, "I know you all don't like me, and I don't really like you. But unless you want to wind up living in a world run by the most ruthless military dictatorship of all time, you'd better listen to what I have to say."

"We're listening," Robin said.

"All right, then. A few weeks back, I was on a job- no need to go into the details- when I found myself in a bit of a situation with the local police force. Normally I could've taken all of them at once, but my power cells were running low and I needed to get out of there. The alternative energy source I found is a lot easier to get then xenotheum, but doesn't last nearly as long.

"Anyway, I thought I was toast when about a dozen men in combat uniforms jumped the police and left them in varying stages of pain. Figuring that this was something I didn't want to be involved with, I tried to run before they noticed me. Too late for that, as it turns out- they knew I was there from the beginning. Their leader called out for me, said that if I stuck around I might hear a deal that would be to my advantage. So I dropped my cloaker and asked him what he had to offer.

"He told me that his boss had been looking for people with stealth skills and brains to carry out sabotage for him. I told him that I was an independent and he'd need to offer something pretty impressive to get my attention. He said that he had a plane waiting and that he could take me to meet the boss in person. Figuring it was better than sticking around waiting for more police- or you people, for that matter- I took him up on it.

"We flew for hours, and I'm not entirely sure where we ended up except that it's in the middle of the desert a long way from here. We landed beside a huge fortress built on a mountaintop, and as they led me inside I saw glimpses of massive weapons and hundreds of training soldiers. They took me to a room at the very top of the fortress- and there I met _him._

"Immortus looked like something that had been dead for a month, all withered skin hung over a thin skeleton. But his eyes were alive, and they looked at me like I was an insect. But he sat me down, got me a drink, and told me all about his grand plan for world domination. Seems he's been planning this for a while now- ever since World War II ended, actually. The idea of a dictatorship based on militarism and war struck him as the best idea he'd heard in centuries, apparently. He had the troops and the weapons, but he needed people to go around the world for him, sneaking into governmental facilities, stealing their secrets, destroying their equipment, and so on. He was of the opinion that I was the one for the job.

"Well, I thought he was insane, but I was smart enough not to tell him that to his face, sudden death being bad for business and all. What I did tell him was that I'd think it over, so he told some of his men to watch me while I made up my mind. As soon as the old man was out of the room, though, I told my guards I needed to use the restroom. They insisted on accompanying me, and as soon as we were inside I decked both of them, switched my cloaker on, and bolted. It didn't have much juice left, but it had enough to get me to one of the planes, which I stole and managed to fly back here.

"We've not exactly ever been the best of friends, but you all know me- I look out for myself and have broken more laws than a HIVE graduating class, but I'm not one for this sort of thing. I don't want to rule the world, and I certainly don't want the old man doing it- absolute dictatorship isn't good for someone like me. Immortus would use me, and then through me to the wolves as soon as he didn't need me anymore, and I wasn't about to let that happen. So here I am, and now you know the situation. Someone needs to bring Immortus down, and you seem like the people for the job."

"What exactly do you expect us to do about it?" Robin asked after a moment of silence. "You said yourself you don't know where his main base is. Wouldn't this be more of a job for the Justice League?"

"I don't trust any hero-types but you to even try to give me a fair hearing, Robin," X said. "And if I went to the government they'd make me reveal my identity before listening to anything I said, and I'm sure you can understand why I didn't want to do that. Besides, I have one more thing."

X reached into his cape and removed a disk. "I took this from Immortus' desk while he wasn't looking. It contains data about a base, hidden in the mountains not far from here. The soldiers there are guarding a team of crack scientists- including our old friend Professor Chang, I believe- who are working on something. The disk doesn't say what, but it could give him complete global domination."

"And you want us to stop it," Robin said slowly.

"Bingo. But don't think I'm leaving this to you- I'll be coming along. I have a feeling you'll be needing my help. Shall we meet at this time tomorrow night on your roof?"

"Wait just a minute-" Cyborg began, but before he could finish X pressed a button on his belt, and his image blurred and vanished.

"Looks like he got a new powerpack, at least," Raven commented dryly.

"I don't like this, Robin," Cyborg said. "Could be a trap."

"I know, but even if it is we need to go with him."

"Have you gone completely out of your mind?" Beast Boy demanded, then seemed to remember who he was talking to. "Don't answer that."

"I'm not crazy," Robin reassured them. "The thing is, X wouldn't act like this on his own- he always preferred to do things his own way, not rely on others to set traps for him. That means that either he's telling the truth and we help him stop a real threat, or he's lying and we find out about something else.

"In any case, get some sleep, team. We're going to need it."


	4. Chapter 3: Strategizing

**Chapter 3- Strategizing**

Lieutenant General Frederick Smithson paused a moment to straighten his uniform, making absolutely certain that nothing was out of place. He was not a vain man, usually, but this was hardly a usual circumstance. One didn't meet directly with one's Supreme Commander every day, after all, and General Immortus was well known for his absolute attention to detail.

Certain that he was presentable, Smithson stepped up to the mechanical double doors and held up his palm in front of the scanner. It hummed for a moment, and once it had verified his identity it blinked brightly. Then, with a hiss and a great deal of steam, the doors slid open and the Lieutenant General stepped inside.

The Forever Soldier's private quarters, situated atop the highest spire of his desert fortress, was a round, metallic room without a hint of humanity about it. The only concession to the fact that someone lived here at all was the desk with a small cup of water perched on it. Immortus claimed to have grown tired of most foods long ago- he lived on water, bread, and little else. Passing the table without a glance, Smithson entered a small alcove surrounded by windows from which one could watch the terrain for miles around. A high-backed chair sat in the alcove, turned away from the doors.

"General Immortus," Smithson said, clearing his throat. "We have received a report that our plans in America are progressing to the point where they will require your personal attention. Do you wish me to have your plane prepared."

"That would be most appreciated, Lieutenant General," a voice that sounded old as time rasped from the chair. "Very soon now I shall have the tools that I will require to bring this world to its knees." The chair swiveled around, and Smithson gulped as he found himself face-to-face with his commander's mummylike face and sharp, penetrating eyes. "You have doubts, Smithson?" The voice was flat as ever, but Immortus's lieutenant could not miss the accusing edge to it.

"I simply… question our dependence upon such an unreliable agent, sir," he finally managed to say. "I don't believe he can be trusted not to betray us."

Immortus chuckled dryly. "You question overmuch, my lieutenant. I know his type, and I know how to control them. He is ours as surely as if we had imprisoned him. He will well perform the task I have set. Do you question further?"

Smithson shook his head. "No, sir. I trust your judgment- I remember what a rabble we were at the Brotherhood before the Brain and his pet monkey brought you in to train us. You made us into a real army, and we will follow you to the end."

Immortus's eyes gleamed. "Indeed? Many have said that to me, and the dust of ages now covers their bones. Perhaps this is the time, though, when at last what I have striven for all my long life shall at last be attained."

As those ancient eyes bored into his own, Smithson couldn't help himself. He shivered.

#############

The T-ship hovered over the roof of Titans' Tower as the sun set in the distance. Robin didn't know where Immortus's base was, but it probably didn't have roads suitable for the car, and he certainly didn't want to have to walk there. The ship was also the most durable of the team's vehicles- if Red X was right, they were heading into a massive army, and needed all the protection they could get.

"Where is he, anyway?" Beast Boy asked irritably from the next pod over. "If X was so worried about this thing, then why's he taking his sweet time in getting here?"

"X likes to keep his own timetable," Robin said. "He probably thinks it's funny, keeping us waiting like this."

"Awww, Robin, I'm hurt!" a familiar artificial voice sounded over the channels. The air shimmered in front of the T-ship and formed itself into the black-clad form of Red X. "You don't know how much it wounds me that my allies have so little trust in my character!"

"I really feel your pain," Robin replied in a tone that suggested he felt no such thing, "but we've got a job to do. Now, we only have five pods on this thing-"

"I think I can manage," X said. In a single, smooth motion the thief leaped from the roof and landed on the side of the ship. As he began to slide back down, he flexed his fingers and long, sharp claws emerged from the tips of his gloves, anchoring him firmly in place.

"My paint job!" Cyborg wailed. He wasn't _quite_ as protective of the airship as he was of the T-car, but seeing the long scratches still pained him deeply.

"I'm secure," X said nonchalantly, ignoring the continued protests of the half-mechanical engineer.

"Where exactly are we going?" Robin asked.

"Fly due north. I'll give you further directions from there."

Robin nodded, and then activated the engines. The t-ship rocked slightly, and then shot off towards the forests north of Jump City, where they would find General Immortus' base- and his secret weapon.

#############

It was fully dark by the time Red X told Robin that they'd arrived. The team leader brought the T-ship down in a forest clearing and he and the other Titans quickly disembarked. X landed lightly by Robin's side, looking every bit as relaxed as if he'd been standing there for the past hour, rather than being carried on the outside of a jet at very high speeds.

"There isn't anything here," Raven said darkly after the Titans had a chance to look around. "Why did you bring us to the middle of nowhere?"

"It's not the middle of nowhere," X said. "The base isn't far. I wanted Robin to put us down here before they detected us. If we walk the rest of the way, we should be able to slip under their sensors."

"Good idea," Robin said. "Come on, team, let's go."

They followed X through the forest for what felt like another hour, and then at last the thief motioned for them to stop. Robin crept quietly to X's side, and then bent to look through the trees.

The base was huge, taking up a massive swath of the forest. It was built like a fortress, its walls high and thick and sullen grey, with tall guard-towers on every corner. Another tower rose from the center, and from its top something sent out blue sparks every few seconds.

"Amazing," Cyborg breathed. "How come nobody knows about this place?"

"It's cloaked," X said. "We passed under it in the forest, but believe me- it's there. The first thing Chang built for this place was an advanced hologram projector. From the air, it just looks like empty forest."

"How are we going to be able to enter a fortress like this?" Starfire asked. "Certainly it would take an army to do serious damage." Despite her often bubbly personality, Star was a trained warrior from a line of warriors- she spoke exactly what was on Robin's mind.

"Watch and learn, girl," X said. "I've gotten into places much worse than this one." Pressing a button on his belt, X vanished.

"How do we know he has not gone to alert them?" Starfire asked when she was certain the thief was out of hearing. "I do not trust him."

"Neither do I, but we're here now, and the base is real," Robin said. "We'll have a fight on our hands either way."

Suddenly alarms flared from the top of every tower, and the sound of the guards' running feet could be distinctly heard. So X _had _betrayed them. Robin braced for battle, and then paused. It sounded like the guards were running away from the Titans' location- suddenly X's plan made sense.

The thief reappeared beside Robin a few minutes later, somehow managing to look smug despite his expressionless mask. "I tripped an alarm on the opposite wall," he said. "While they're all trying to catch me over there, we can break in over hear. Come on!"

The Titans and X hurried to the base of the gray wall, and X removed a red star-shaped weapon from his belt. He pressed it against the wall and it began to grow, glowing with heat as it did so. When it reached the size of a door it melted all the way through the wall, leaving a smoking opening.

"Ladies first," X said, bowing mockingly towards Starfire and Raven. As the team followed him through the impromptu entrance, Robin wondered not for the first time what they'd gotten themselves into.

###### ########

"They're in, sir," the officer at the plane's sensor board said, nodding in General Immortus' direction.

The old man smiled tightly as his cloaked aircraft circled the base. "Excellent," he rasped. "Everything proceeds according to plan."


	5. Chapter 4: Deception

**Chapter 4- Deception**

The corridors of the base were empty and silent as the Titans and Red X slipped through them. The thief was in the lead, Robin right behind him. Beast Boy flapped by Robin's ear in the form of a bat, and behind the two of them came Cyborg, sonic cannon at the ready, and Starfire, floating a few inches above the floor. Raven came last, all of her senses alert for the enemy.

"I'm not sensing anyone in this part of the building," the sorceress said quietly. "That must have been some diversion."

"Mine always are," X said smugly. "There's a reason you all were never able to catch me."

Cyborg studied the scanners on his arm for a moment, then looked up. "I'm picking up something very powerful near the middle of the base," he said. "Way off the charts. I knew Chang was good, but this is- unbelievable!"

"Before he was running on a tight budget," X replied. "Now he's got almost unlimited resources to work with. Whatever he's making, it's one of the most powerful weapons in history. I can almost guarantee it."

"But he's never going to get the chance to use it," Robin growled. "Cyborg, take the lead. Follow that signal."

"On it." Cyborg slipped to the front of the line and kept walking, scanner out. Several times he would pause, his sensors torn between two or more energy sources, but the signal emanating from Professor Chang's lab was so strong that locking back in on it was never hard. Following the half-robot's lead, the team wound their way through the deserted corridors to the very heart of the base.

They were stopped once, outside of a pair of heavy double doors, where a quartet of soldiers in unmarked grey uniforms stood waiting, beam rifles in hand. They were surprised when the Titans rounded a corner and came face-to-face with them, but they knew their job well. The beam rifles were up in an instant, pointing directly at the young superheroes.

"Hands in the air, or we'll shoot!" the leader barked.

"All right- if that's what you _really_ want," Red X said with a soft sneer. His hands came up- and as they did, a pair of gleaming red x's shot from his gloves, striking two of the soldiers' guns and knocking them out of their hands. The remaining two didn't lose a second, bolts of red light lancing from their weapons- and stopping inches from their targets, held back by Raven's power.

"Little boys shouldn't play with dangerous toys," X taunted. "Someone might get _hurt_!" With a snarl he leapt forward and struck the officer who had spoken hard in the face. The man went down and didn't move. The other soldiers drew pistols and advanced on the thief, but they were dragged off their feet by Raven's magic and pinned against the wall.

Robin rushed forward and dragged X off of the fallen officer, who was breathing shallowly. "We do not use lethal force- ever!" he hissed.

"He's not dead," X said with a complete lack of concern. "I don't do assassinations- too messy. Anyway, I think I'd better get the door." Wrenching himself free of Robin's grasp, X strolled over and stuck another of his innumerable x-shaped devices on the door- and was knocked back by a sudden flare of electricity, the device vaporized.

"That's gonna leave a mark," X groaned.

"High-tech security systems'll do that," Cyborg said. "Now then, I think this is my specialty." Walking over to the door, he extended a mechanical interface from one finger and inserted it into the lock. His eyes went blank, and for a few minutes nothing happened- and then the door hissed open and the Titans slipped inside.

They stood inside what could only be described as a madman's paradise combined with a junkyard. Bits and pieces of technology so advanced even Cyborg could only guess at its function lay strewn about on every surface; monitors and pulsing lights lined the walls, glowing and blinking in a mad pattern. No wonder Chang's crazy, Robin thought, if he surrounds himself with this sort of stuff all the time. Even Robin was getting a little woozy just watching it.

The sound of low voices could be heard from the other end of the room. The Titans maneuvered their way past stacks of pulsing wreckage and saw an old man in an environment suite facing away from them. He was hunched over a table and berating several similarly-clad assistants in terms so technical Robin couldn't even guess at their meaning. The old man, however, he knew- Professor Chang, inventor of the Red X suit and hundreds more high tech weapons.

One of Chang's assistants pointed, and the scientist wheeled about, squawking in alarm when he saw who had invaded his sanctum. "Don't just stand there you fools!" he shouted, "get rid of them!"

They assistants hurried forwards, large and unpleasant looking devices in their hands. Robin and X, though, had fought Chang's men before. They were not true warriors, no matter how deadly their weapons might be. Robin hurled his birdarangs, Red X his throwing x's. The sharply bladed weapons tore through the assistants' devices and left them torn and sparking on the floor. The now unarmed henchmen looked from their weapons to their foes, and quickly retreated.

"It's over, Chang," Robin said, grabbing the professor by the front of his environment suit. "Whatever it is you're making, hand it over."

"Will I never be free of you, boy?" Chang ranted. "Even here, you pursue me."

"We never give up in our pursuit of evil," Starfire proclaimed in a ringing voice.

"What she said," Cyborg added. "Mad scientists go down, no matter who they're working for. That's one of our first rules, and one we're all too happy to carry out."

"Your new master can't protect you any more, Chang," Robin growled. "Now where're the weapon?"

"Well, I'd think a dreadfully dull good little boy like yourself would be more respectful of the United States government!" Chang shot back.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

Chang threw up his hands. "I've gone legitimate, you fool! This is a US research center. I was on parole, building weapons for your government."

"Then you weren't working for General Immortus?" Robin felt he was rapidly losing his grip on the situation.

"Who?"

Raven closed her eyes, then shook her head. "He's not lying," she said. "As far as he knows, this place is legitimate."

"Then we have made a mistake?" Starfire asked hesitantly.

"You could say that," Cyborg replied. "And our first mistake was trusting X!"

"Where is he, anyway?" Beast Boy piped in. Robin dropped Chang and spun, but there was no sign of the thief.

And then the roof blew in.

The Titans stared upward in horror as massive beams of energy cut through the ceiling, dropping debris everywhere. Raven quickly had a force field up, protecting her teammates and Professor Chang from the worst of it, but the attack wasn't over. A sleek black plane hovered over the opening, a ramp on its underside open. And on that ramp stood a gaunt man who made Chang look young, dressed in an ornate officer's uniform. A cavalry saber was belted at his side, and a black cape that hung over one shoulder blew in the wind. Robin had only seen this man up close a handful of times, but he recognized him just the same.

"Immortus," he hissed.

The air beside the Forever Soldier flickered and Red X appeared, a faintly-glowing metal canister under one arm. "I've got what I came for, boss," he said to the general. "Let's blow this place." Immortus raised a bony hand, and the plane's bay swung shut. The aircraft flared its engines, and was gone.

When the rubble stopped falling, Raven dropped her shield. Starfire turned to Robin. "Shall we pursue them?"

"I don't think we have time for that," Beast Boy said. "Look!" The team spun around to face the door. There stood a company of soldiers with flags on their uniforms, beam rifles pointed at the Titans.

"In the name of the United States of America," their officer proclaimed, "You are under arrest."

#############

Red X lounged in one of the passenger seats in Immortus' private jet, idly tossing the device he'd taken from Chang's laboratory from one hand to the other. "That wasn't a bad plan, old man," he said to the withered figure who sat beside him. "You got your weapon, and the government thinks the Titans are criminals. They'll lock 'em away good and deep for this. It's actually kind of funny, really. I wouldn't have thought a military man like you would have come up with something quite so sneaky."

"All warfare is based on deception," Immortus said softly.

X chuckled. "Quoting Sun Tzu?" he asked. The old general shook his head.

"No. He was quoting me."


	6. Chapter 5: Interrogation

**Chapter 5- Interrogation**

"Tell us your name."

"Robin."

"No. Tell us your _real_ name."

"Sorry."

"Sorry what?"

"Sorry, but I can't do that."

"Listen, son, you may not believe this, but we want to help you. But we can't do that unless you tell us who you really are. Otherwise, we can't guarantee that your rights will be protected."

"If you want to know so bad, why don't you just pull my mask off and see for yourself?"

"You can't expect us to recognize your face."

"Maybe not, but I have fingerprints, DNA. Why not just use that?"

"Let's just say that certain… parties wouldn't take kindly to our treating a superhero in that way."

"I get it. You don't want to tick off the Justice League, right?"

"You're a clever young man, er… Robin. Now tell us- why did you attack a United States military facility?"

"I had been led to believe that it was a base under the control of an enemy."

"Who told you this?"

"You wouldn't like the answer."

"I see. And who were you led to believe this base belonged to?"

"A terrorist named General Immortus."

"General Immortus is a myth. Tell the truth- who did you believe the base belonged to?"

"I'm not lying! You have to listen to me! Immortus is real, and he's planning to take over the world. He's thousands of years old, and he's a genius- and he has something that he took from you. Ask your men what's missing from the base. Immortus has it now, and whatever it is, he'll use it. You have to find him now, before it's too late!"

"Enough. It seems that 'Robin' here isn't willing to cooperate. Gentlemen, take him back to his cell, and bring me the redhead. She doesn't look as stubborn."

"You're making a huge mistake…"

"Get him out of my sight."

############

"What is your name, young lady?"

"In your language, it would be Starfire. This is what my friends call me."

"In 'our' language? You don't have an accent. Where are you from?"

"I am from the planet Tamaran."

*Laugher* "Wait- you're serious?"

"Yes. I am Starfire of the Royal House of Tamaran, and you will explain why you are treating us like this!"

"Royal House- listen to me very carefully. I don't care if you're the lost princess of Mars- just tell me why you attacked a United States military base!"

"It all began several days ago after we had just defeated Plasmus and eaten pizza with mustard when the Red X appeared and attacked Robin but said he needed our help to fight the General Immortus, and-"

"Red X? Red X the infamous thief?"

"Yes. I did not think we should trust him, but Robin insisted and I did not want to say anything. But he tricked us and then betrayed us."

"Did it occur to you that you should have turned over a wanted criminal to the police the moment he set foot in your tower?"

"We followed Robin's decisions."

"So you always do whatever Robin tells you to do?"

"I would appreciate you not prying where you do not belong."

"I am the one asking the questions here, and in the name of governmental security I have a right to know whatever I need to know!"

"I am a Princess of Tamaran and you are not my government!"

"Get her out of here, and bring me someone sane!"

############

"Tell me your name."

"The name's Cyborg."

"A cyborg is what you are- what is your real name?"

"It's also my name- you have a problem with that?"

*sigh* "Have it your way, then. Why did you attack a United States military base?"

"If Robin and Star wouldn't tell, I'm sure not going to."

"I was told a fanciful story involving an immortal terrorist and a notorious thief. I was hoping you might be able to tell me what actually happened."

"You just said what happened- Red X lured us into a trap, then him and Immortus swooped in and stole something from your labs. Maybe you'd better put someone on that little problem rather than wasting your time with us."

"We have men working the theft. But you and your friends were there too, and several of our men at the base claimed that you attacked them or sabotaged their technology. Any reason for this?"

"Yeah- we though you all were the bad guys, and we were doing our job. Now we know you're not, and we're sorry- so let us go so we can go find the real bad guys and kick their butts, alright?"

"Fighting 'bad guys' is our job, and the police's- not yours. Who gave you the authority to go out and fight 'bad guys' wherever you find them?"

"Well maybe the fact that we took down an alien battlecruiser while the police and the army sat back and did squat has something to do with it?"

"Aliens. Yes, I've heard that before."

"Well, yeah- maybe someday you'll wake up and realize that you're living in a world of aliens, magic, and talking gorillas, and then you'll feel really stupid. Until then, let us our and we'll handle 'em for you."

"I will not be spoken to in this manner. Remove him!"

############

"All right, I've learned better than to ask you people for you're real names, so just tell me what you call yourself."

"Beast Boy, but in a couple of years I'm changing it to Beastman. Sounds cooler, and don't you think the girls'll just love it? _Beastman_- yeah."

"So perhaps you could tell me, Beast Boy, why you and your friends attacked a United States military base?"

"Well, maybe we could make a deal. I'll answer you, if you'll answer me."

"Well, this is headway, of a sort. What do you want to know?"

"Do you have any food? I'm a shapeshifter with an accelerated metabolism (or something like that- ask Cyborg), and I need to _eat!_ But no meat- I'm a vegetarian, you know."

*stunned silence* "This isn't a joke, boy!"

"What made you think I was joking? I'm starving!"

"If you answer my questions, I'll feed you- deal?"

"You have yourself a deal, mister- er, sir."

"Why did you attack the base?"

"Are you thick, or something? My friends already told you- we thought it belonged to Immortus!"

"I see. You expect me to believe this 'General Immortus' garbage too?"

"It's not garbage! You see, General Immortus used to work for the Brain and Monsieur Mallah as part of the Brotherhood of Evil, and they wanted to capture all the superheroes in the world and freeze them because we wrecked their black hole machine, and they did catch us, but I brought in back up and there was a big fight, but we caught them, and-"

"Gag him and get rid of him! God, I hope that girl's normal."

############

"All right, young lady, tell us-"

"My name is Raven."

"Raven what?"

"Just Raven."

"Now see here- if you tell us you're full name, we can identify you and give you full protection under the law."

"I'm not a US citizen. I was born in Azarath."

"Where?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Now then, please tell me-"

"You've been told the truth four times. I don't think a fifth will make any difference."

"I've been told a fanciful story that cannot possibly be true. I hap hoped you would be more reasonable."

"You small-minded little man. You live safe in your own little world, and when something comes along that doesn't fit you stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist. Well, it does exist, and you and your precious government are all going to die unless you believe us."

"You will not speak of the United States government in that tone!"

"You don't scare me. I've seen things that would make you and all your precious army claw out your own eyes, I've dreamed of things that would make you terrified to sleep. I have defied powers beyond your comprehension, have walked in paradise and hell- and you are just a man."

"Get… her… out!"

"I'll be leaving on my own, thanks."

"Ha! You're handcuffed, under armed guard- what? Where is she? Don't just stand there you idiots, find her! People don't just disappear. She's got to be around here somewhere. If she's not, it's the end of all our careers."

############

Raven rematerialized several floors below, on the same level as the cells. "Fools," she whispered under her breath, and set out to free her friends.


	7. Chapter 6: Escape

**Chapter 6- Escape**

Raven floated in the dark corridor and studied the energy-cuffs binding her wrists intently. The government scientists had been clever- they'd created a device that both tied her hands physically and magically, emitting bolts of energy that would send shocks of pain up her arms, disrupting her concentration if she attempted to use her powers to escape from them. Her captors had, however, failed to anticipate that she might escape and take her cuffs _with_ her. Still, that left Raven with her present dilemma- how to get the cursed things off?

It was frustrating, but Raven didn't allow the emotion to cloud her mind. A clear head was essential to all magic, and her own especially- lose control, and she could become a creature that would make General Immortus and all his schemes look like child's play. More to the point, if she could figure out how these things worked, she could break them without using enough energy to set them off.

There- the power cells attached to the cuffs' inner edge. If those went dead, the whole device would shut off. Smiling slightly to herself, Raven focused her will and summoned thin tendrils of dark energy that wrapped themselves around the cells and gave a tight, quick, yank. The cells sparked and fell off, and the cuffs clattered to the ground.

Satisfied with her work, Raven slipped down the hallway, looking for the cells that held her friends.

############

Robin sat in the dark, head in hands. How could these government agents be so _stupid_? Of all the threats he had ever faced, only Trigon had been greater than General Immortus was now, and of the two, the Forever Soldier was the more concrete and believable. Robin didn't care whether the government bought into the truth about the old man's immortality, but that un unidentified military plane had swooped down on the base at the last moment and retreated with a stolen weapon aboard could not be denied. Immortal or not, an experimental weapon was now in the hands of a madman.

Part of Robin blamed himself. If he hadn't trusted X, the Titans would have never gone to the base, and therefore the attack couldn't have been blamed on them. Another part of him maintained that this was stupid- Immortus could have stolen the weapon at any time, and if the Titans hadn't been there, all he would have lost would have been a convenient scapegoat. But the first part returned that without that scapegoat, the government would be after Immortus now, no wasting its time detaining his team. And so Robin came back to blaming himself.

"Robin?" a voice asked from the darkness, "Is that you?" Robin looked up.

"Raven?" he whispered.

"Yes!" she said, and materialized from a swirl of shadows into the heart of his cell, her normally violet eyes glowing white. She held out a hand to him. "We need to get out of here."

"How did you escape?" Robin asked, not entirely certain that this wasn't another trick.

"These people aren't used to holding mages," Raven said. "I don't think they understood how versatile my powers can be. But listen- we don't have long, and they're looking for me. Come on!" Robin reached out and took the half-demon's hand. The shadows swirled again, and they found themselves in the hall.

"What about security cameras?" Robin asked. "They could track us that way."

"On it," Raven said, raising a hand a making a sweeping motion. All the cameras along the hall shuddered and were surrounded by cocoons of shadow. "They're blind now," she whispered, her voice strained.

"Good," Robin said. Together, he hand Raven hurried down the hall. The sorceress placed her hand on her friend's shoulder and closed her eyes, reaching out with her thoughts to find each of the other Titans. As she did so, along the hallway doors sprang open and Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stumbled out into the hallway, all bound by energy cuffs- and, in Beast Boy's case, some sort of high-tech gag that left him unable to do anything but make indignant squeaks.

"Are we escaping now, please?' Starfire asked, seeming very relieved.

"Yes," Robin said.

"Stand close, everyone," Raven said in a strained voice and beckoned all of the other Titans over. They gathered around her, and were enveloped in darkness. When it cleared, they were in the forest near where they had left the T-ship. Raven slowly sank to the ground, exhausted.

Starfire tugged experimentally at her cuffs several times and then, satisfied, gave them a hard yank. Shards of metal went flying, and the Tamaranean princess stretched her arms out luxuriously. "I would have done that sooner," she said, "but I wasn't sure that it was what Robin wanted us to do." She hurried over her friends and freed each of their hands in turn. When his cuffs had lay in broken pieces on the ground around him, Beast Boy motioned angrily to his gag.

"Can't you just leave him like that?" Raven said wearily. "I could use a little quiet." Starfire seemed momentarily torn, and then pulled off the gag.

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed loudly, "what was with those guys? I tried to tell them all about Immortus, but they stuck that thing on me even before I got to the good parts! And then they didn't even give me any food, like they said they were going to, Please tell me we can go back there and kick their butts?"

"No!" Robin said. "Incompetent or not, we can't fight our own government. They think we're criminals- we can't let that become the truth. Immortus is the enemy, not them. If we can stop him, we can prove that we were telling the truth."

"I agree with Robin," Starfire said. "The General Immortus is the enemy we must defeat."

"Knew you'd say that," Cyborg put in. "Me, I don't like those guys back there any more than you, BB, but I agree with Robin and Star. If we take it out on them, they'll come after us, and we don't need that right now."

"Technically we are criminals now," said Raven. "We blasted our way out of a government base. They can't follow us right away- unless they've figured out how to track teleportation- but they will come after us eventually."

"Technically I guess we were always criminals," Robin said softly. "We did fight criminals and monsters and demons without any sort of legal authority. But if we didn't do it, Slade would have taken over, or Brother Blood would have mind-controlled everyone, or Trigon would have ended the whole world. Now Immortus is the threat, and we can't stand down just because some people at the government think we're the bad guys. Sometimes you have to break a few laws to do the right thing."

"I'm with you, Robin," said Beast Boy, an expression of uncharacteristic seriousness on his face.

"And me," said Cyborg.

"This is why you are a great leader, Robin," Starfire whispered to him. "It is because you do what is right, even when the world tells you not to. I am with you."

"Me too," Raven glided over to stand beside her leader.

"All right then," Robin said. "We need to find Immortus, and give him what's coming to him. Then we can clear our names."

############

The deserts of the Arabian Peninsula are the most barren on Earth. Even now, in these days of advanced technology and global discovery, the inner reaches of the Empty Quarter have not been explored by human beings. Nothing can live in such a hostile environment long.

The fortress of General Immortus rose like a talon scraping the heavens from the heart of this vast wasteland. The Brotherhood built it on the Brain's orders, a final refuge should Paris fall into enemy hands. It was furnished with technology invented by the disembodied genius, making life possible in this barren land. The Brain was never able to use his final sanctuary, but it had not gone to waste. The Forever Soldier made his home there now.

Red X stared down from the fortress's highest window and shook his head. "Nice place you've got here, old man," he said. "The scenery leaves a little to be desired."

"I must disagree," Immortus rasped, coming to stand beside the young thief. "The desert is beautiful- pure, flat, empty. In this land, survival itself is warfare, and one must be both strong and cunning to live. There have always been great wars fought in this region of little food and less water, but some of the greatest of human achievements have come from here. It is an intriguing mix, don't you agree, young man?"

"Sure," said X, who had long since stopped paying attention. "So when do I get paid, anyway? This place isn't so nice that I want to stick around here for too long. I do have a life, you know."

"Life," Immortus chuckled, seeming to find the notion that someone barely out of his teens could have a 'life' to be quite amusing. "You will be paid when the war begins. I cannot have you leaving here and telling my plans to the highest bidder, can I?"

"I don't know your plans," X lied, but the old general smiled.

"Indeed? I was certain a person of your talents would have learned every detail of my plans within an hour of coming here."

X sighed. It certainly was annoying being around a man who had been studying people so long he could read them like open books. "Alright, you win," he said. "I hacked your database and found out everything you were up to. Satisfied?"

"No." Immortus turned back to the desert view. "I have not been satisfied in centuries. There is no challenge anymore. There is no enemy I cannot defeat. How I miss it!"

Now it was X's turn to laugh. "The Allies beat you pretty bad in WWII, or so I heard," he said. "And the Titans took you down in Europe."

"I was not in command, then!" Immortus snapped. "I only advised, and neither the Fuhrer nor the Brain did as I advised. They both felt that they alone could lead their forces to victory, and they both failed. I do not fail."

"So you really intend to do it, then?" X asked. "Take over the world?"

"In a way," Immortus said, his gaze growing distant. "I have no interest in ruling. I shall bring this world to its knees, but I will not conquer it. And so, when all the nations are stripped of their power, they will fall upon each other- and there shall be eternal war."


	8. Chapter 7: Complications

**Chapter 7- Complications**

"Eternal war?" Red X asked, feigning nonchalance while inside his mind was whirling. "Sounds a bit big, even for you."

Immortals smiled tightly. "You are skilled and clever, Red X," he said, "but like many of the young today, you lack imagination- and the perspective to truly understand our world and how it works. Consider- the human race was born from conflict. In the beginning, it was conflict with nature, striving to establish ourselves as the dominant species. When nature was tamed, we turned upon each other, each side seeking to be the most powerful."

Immortus walked along the window, staring out over the vast, barren desert he had made his home. "And in truth, the greatest heroes and legends of the world came from wars. The Spartans, Alexander the Great, Ceasar. And in other parts of the world, Sun Tzu and Rama, Arthur and Charlemagne, Genghis Khan. Heroes who rose to power through war, and went on to change the world. It is conflict that creates greatness. War is what pushes the human race forwards."

"But now," the old man turned back towards X, "there has been no great war since the downfall of the Third Reich. They knew war, but the Fuhrer would not listen to my counsel and was consumed. Now what is there? A single powerful country chasing petty terrorists in circles. This is not war! It is- stagnation."

"And so what are you planning on doing about it?" X asked acidly. "Overthrowing America with a few thousand mercenaries and all that tech you scrounged off the Brain? Hate to break it to you, old man, but that's not gonna happen."

"It _wouldn't_ have happened, without your assistance," Immortus said. "The device you stole for me from Professor Chang's research labs is an experimental weapon that will change my fortunes in this battle. It was designed to emit a high-powered electrical pulse that will disable any sufficiently advanced technology in the area- except for that which is properly shielded, of course."

"Of course," X said. "And so this thing'll take out any enemy tech in the area- that's certainly useful, but I don't see how one of the things will take out the most powerful nation on the planet."

"'That tech I scrounged off the Brain', as you so eloquently put it, will change that." Immortus smiled again, and X inadvertently flinched back. The old man bore a distinct resemblance to a shark when he did that. "This fortress is run from a generator that the Brain invented immediately prior to his unfortunate defeat. It produces enough energy to power this fortress for eternity- or to provide something else with a massive, temporary boost."

"The weapon," X whispered.

"Yes," Immortus said. "I shall feed the weapon power from the generator until it is more powerful than that fool Chang ever dreamed. Then I will fire it into the upper atmosphere and activate it via remote control. My base is properly shielded, as is, presumably, Chang's lab. The rest of the world will be stripped of all advanced technology and weaponry. The playing field will be leveled, and the world will descend into chaos. I shall sell my weapons and services to all sides, and prolong the conflict indefinitely. Through this great war, new leaders and heroes shall arise and lead the human race onto the path of true greatness."

X's first thought was to tell the General that he was crazy, throw a weapon at him, and bolt- but he quickly decided that wasn't a sane option. He'd have to fight his way through the base's security systems, which did not seem at all fun, and odds were he'd be killed before he made a clean getaway. X was no coward, but he was pragmatic, and right now the practical thing to do seemed to be humoring the eternal lunatic next to him. "That's very impressive," he said.

"Indeed," Immortus replied, staring out over the desert. "Leave me now. I need to meditate on my plan and discover any flaws before putting it into action." X quickly turned to leave, but the Forever Soldier's voice stopped him. "And if you are thinking of leaving, I would remind you that your suit would be destroyed by my weapon as easily as any other technology. If you value its power, you might wish to remain within the fortress until my plan is complete."

############

Red X paced back and forth in the room that Immortus had given him, desperately trying to find a way out of this miserable trap. He'd thought the old nutjob just wanted world domination like every other wacko with an army ever had, but it seemed an immortal's sensibilities ran in a different direction. X didn't know what made him angrier- the fact that he'd been wrong, or the fact that the world was about to end.

X was a hard, cynical type, but he had to admit that the modern world had its conveniences. Fast food, for one. High tech suits that were a thief's dream come true were another. He wasn't sure what place their would be for a man whose skills lay in the direction of high-tech theft and espionage in General Immortus' bloodstained new world, but he did know one thing- the notion of having a shotgun thrust in his hands and being sent of almost certain death on the front lines was a fate to be avoided at all costs.

Sure, if he stayed here he could keep his suit from being fried, and then get paid massive amounts of money to keep on doing the same things he had been doing with a far lower risk, but risk was a main reason why he did this sort of thing in the first place. And what good was money if there was nowhere to spend it?

X supposed he could play hero- he'd done it before, after all, and although it was far from his favored activity he did it reasonably well. But Immortus probably had that weapon under heavy guard, and the idea of fighting through weapons and traps laid out by a six-thousand year old genius sounded less like heroism than suicide.

It was at that moment when, suddenly and inexplicably, Red X's communicator rang. Grabbing the device from his belt, the thief held it up to his mouth and opened it. "Who are you and how did you get this number?" he snarled.

"Now, Robin," an eerily calm voice said from the other end. "I think we've known each other too long for that kind of talk."

"I'm not Robin," Red X replied. "Looks like you need to get your facts checked, whoever you are."

There was a pause. "I was mistaken, it seems," the voice said, "but that doesn't mean we can't do business. In fact, it might make things easier. But first, tell me- where _is_ Robin? I'm quite curious."

"Probably still in prison," X laughed. "The government thinks he helped steal some experimental weapon of theirs, and he's too much of a good boy to try escaping."

"Don't underestimate him," the voice said. "There is more to Robin than you might think. When he gets some idealistic crusade on his mind, there is little that can stop him. But enough of idle conversation. You- or someone wearing the Red X suit- were last seen in the employ of an old friend of mine- and I mean that quite literally. General Immortus."

"How did you know that?"

"I have my sources. It has come to my attention that General Immortus' plans run counter to my own. From what I hear of them, I doubt that they are amusing to you either."

"You could say that."

"Then I propose an alliance. You will wait until the opportune moment, and then strike. You will save the sword of General Immortus and the schematics for his weapon and bring them both to an address I will transmit to you at that time."

X laughed again. "I don't work for free, mystery man."

"I think that perhaps double what the Forever Soldier is paying you might be interesting?"

"Very."

Red X got the sense that the person on the other end was smiling. "Excellent. Now listen carefully- this is what you must do…"

############

Robin and his team climbed into the T-ship and Cyborg took the main controls. The jet engines activated, and the advanced aircraft rose up into the sky.

"What are we going to do now, Robin?" Starfire asked. "We do not know where Red X and the General Immortus went. How do we find them?"

"Very simple, Starfire," Robin replied. "I threw a tracer on Immortus' ship just before it blasted off. It's giving off a signal so strong that the T-ship's sensors- and only the T-ship- can find it half a world away."

"I'm on it," Cyborg said. "Immortus'll probably find the thing eventually, but it's one of my designs, so that'll take him a while. Picking up the signal- now!" He punched some keys, and the tracking data appeared on all five Titans' screens.

"Due east," Robin said. "Going straight off the map. But if we follow the trail straight, we'll find him."

"We'd better," Beast Boy put in. "Do you have any idea how much sleep I lost in that cell? And it'll take me days to catch up on all the TV I missed."

"Well then, we'd better take him down fast," Robin laughed. "Teen Titans- Go!" The T-ship surged into motion, perfectly following the trail that the tracer on Immortus' aircraft had left.

Suddenly, Beast Boy spoke up again. "Dudes," he said, "we have a situation here. Looks like company."

"He's right," Cyborg said. "Two jet fighters, coming in fast."

"Please tell me this isn't who I think it is!" Robin snapped, but a crackling voice over the radio confirmed his fears.

"Teen Titans, this is the United States Air Force! Bring your craft to a halt and power down your weapons and you will not be harmed."

All was silent in the T-ship's cockpit except for Starfire's loud pronouncement of several choice Tamaranean curses.


	9. Chapter 8: Pursuit

**Chapter 8- Pursuit**

"Teen Titans, power down your weapons and surrender. This is your last warning."

Robin hit the console of his cockpit in frustration. He did not have _time_ to deal with these people now.

The comm crackled and Beast Boy's voice came over it. "Uh, Robin," he said, "what are we gonna do? Shoot 'em down?"

"No!" Robin almost shouted. "These people are just doing their jobs- we aren't going to kill them just because they're inconvenient to us at the moment. I'm going to try and talk to them." He adjusted the signal on his communicator so it was broadcasting on a frequency that the planes should be able to detect. "This is Robin of the Teen Titans, he said. "If you try to shoot us down, you'll be making a very big mistake. This is a matter of national security- I repeat, _national security_! Do you copy?"

The only reply was static.

"Do you think they will listen?" Starfire asked.

"We'll just have to wait and –" Robin was cut off by Cyborg's sudden shout.

"Incoming!"

The team leader quickly glanced down at his own viewscreen, and Cyborg's information was confirmed- a pair of missiles had been launched from one of the jets and were now twisting their way towards the T-ship.

"I don't think they liked what you had to say," Raven observed.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Robin shouted, and the T-ship dropped into a steep dive, Cyborg attempting to remove it from the oncoming missiles' path. Unfortunately, this proved utterly ineffective as the missiles simply changed course to stay locked on to their target.

"Tell me you have a plan!" Beast Boy's voice was a deafening shout over the comm.

"Titans- separate." The T-ship was not, in fact, a single vehicle, but rather five smaller ships that could each be controlled by an individual member of the team. With five targets rather than one, the missiles' programming would become confused, and they would either begin to fly aimlessly or lock onto a single target, where they could be destroyed by one of the other ship-pods.

Unfortunately for the team, both missiles locked on to Beast Boy's pod.

"Hey, guys! A little help here!" The green shapeshifter's shouts became increasingly incoherent as he spun his pod through a variety of improbably maneuvers in order to avoid the two projectiles.

"I'm on it, BB." Cyborg handled his pod with the skill of one who knew the machine like an old friend as he came up behind the missiles and fired the beam cannons. First one and then the second missile were caught in the blasts and disintegrated. "Boo-yah."

"Cy," Beast Boy said, "You are the best friend ever."

"Hey, if you got blown up, who'd I have left to beat at video games?"

Beast Boy lapsed into a sullen silence as the T-ship reconfigured itself.

"We've still got those planes on our tail," Raven observed. "And they probably have more missiles where those came from." True enough, both Air Force jets were quickly coming up behind the T-ship, weapons at the ready.

"Leave them to me," Starfire declared.

"Uh, Star?" Robin asked, "are you sure you can-"

"I can handle them, Robin," the Tamaranean princess said, her voice intense and utterly devoid of the lighthearted, often silly tone she commonly used. It was when her voice went like this- like it had on the day that they met- that Robin was forcibly reminded that Starfire was not human, that she was a child of a race of warriors. There would be no changing her mind now.

"Good luck," the Titans' leader whispered as Starfire undid her seatbelt and opened her pod's canopy. She floated up into the air, eyes blazing with green fire, and hurtled towards the jets.

The two pilots never knew what hit them. Starfire tore through their planes like a hot iron through ice, and a small rain of wings, guiding fins, and jet engines was sent falling earthward. The core bodies of the fighters, no longer possessing the technology to stay in the air, were sent plummeting towards the ground short moments later.

Starfire hovered in the air where the planes had been for a moment, glancing down at the falling pilots, and then back at the T-ship. Seeming to make up her mind, she hurtled down like an orange and green rocket, quickly coming level with the cockpits. With superhuman strength she tore them open, and, a pilot under each arm, glided gently to the ground. The young alien deposited her cargo and then shot back up towards the T-ship without a word.

"Starfire," Cyborg breathed as she alighted back in her seat, "that was amazing!"

"It was," Robin said. "I guess I always knew you had that kind of power, but seeing it in action…" he shook his head as his voice trailed off.

"Thank you, Robin," Starfire replied stiffly, but when she spoke again her voice had returned to its usual bouncy tone. "Can we not do that again, please?"

#############

Lieutenant General Smithson saluted as his commanding officer strode into the hangar, flanked by armored bodyguards. "General Immortus, sir!" he said. "We await your inspection."

"Excellent," the immortal rasped. Stalking past Smithson, he looked up towards the hangar's high ceiling- and the giant, sheet-draped forms that stood along the walls. "Your work is coming along nicely, Smithson. When will these be ready for combat?"

"The prototype is fully combat capable now, sir," Smithson said with pride. "We've tested it against the Brain's old drone tanks, and the results have been immensely pleasing. We'll have the others online in a matter of days."

"And the weapon I provided you with?" Immortus asked. "Has it performed according to my promise?"

"Yes, sir. We affixed it onto the prototype, and- well, to be honest I've never seen anything quite like it!"

Immortus gazed up at one of the shrouded forms, his eyes far away. "Of course you haven't. The world hasn't, not for almost two thousand years. The ancients were most ingenious, and although we have now surpassed them in many ways, other arts were lost forever." He smiled tightly. "Or perhaps lost to all except for those few who survived the dark ages."

"Are you certain these will be protected when you activated Professor Chang's device, sir?" Smithson asked anxiously. "I'd hate to lose any of these babies before we have the chance to try them out."

"Nothing is certain in war," Immortus rasped. "However, I am as close to certain as is possible that these weapons will survive."

Smithson stepped closer to the general and whispered into his ear so that the bodyguards and technicians couldn't hear. "And what about the thief, sir? He knows what we're planning, and he certainly isn't loyal to you or your cause."

Immortus slowly turned to face his second-in-command, and the gaze of those cold, ancient eyes was enough to make even a hardened mercenary like Smithson quail. "Red X is an opportunist at heart," the old man said. "His fundamental goal is self-preservation. He will not betray me now. He knows that if he did, he would not survive. Does that comfort you?"

"Yes, sir," Smithson said with a salute. "I defer to your wisdom, as always."

"Excellent." General Immortus motioned for his guards and they fell in step behind him as he prepared to leave the hangar. "This age is ending, Smithson. Soon a new age- an age of war- will begin. And in that age, Red X and his kind must adapt or die- but men such as ourselves will always find a home."

########## ###

The T-ship had been flying for hours, but to Robin it had begun to feel like he'd been in the air for an eternity. Whenever he turned his comm on, he found himself treated to Raven's murmuring of "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," as she meditated, Cyborg's snoring, and Beast Boy's constant complaining about the lack of a bathroom, but whenever he switched the thing off, he felt incredibly, totally alone. He wasn't sure which was worse.

The tracer signal still led straight east, and for the last several hours the Titans had been flying over Africa- and before that, the Atlantic. They had long since left US airspace behind (after a few more close run-ins with the Air Force, which they evaded only through luck and Cyborg's skilled piloting) and were in no immediate danger. Robin felt that he should take his teammates' cue and relax, but his mind refused to oblige. He was flying towards an entire army, led, equipped, and trained by one of the most dangerous madmen the world had ever produced, and he was on edge. Whatever happened out here, it would be one of the most significant battles of his career.

The land came to a sudden end and the T-ship was over water again- this time the Red Sea. That body of water passed far more quickly than had the Atlantic, and now Robin found himself looking out over the blasted deserts of Arabia. He checked his scanner, and saw that the signal was much stronger now. They were close to Immortus' stronghold. Leave it to an immortal obsessed with war to pick the middle east for his base of operations.

"Wake up, team," Robin said into his comm. "We're almost there."

"We're with you, Robin," came Raven's calm voice.

"Especially if we can find a bathroom down there!" was Beast Boy's somewhat less eloquent response.

"Beast Boy," Robin said," if Immortus has as many men down there as we think, he'll have to have hundreds of bathrooms. You should be set."

The T-ship passed over a ridge of jagged mountains, and there, as the sun rose before them, they saw the fortress. It looked like a medieval castle scaled up to massive size and outfitted with the most lethal modern weaponry. Tanks were parked along the edges, and in front was a wide, clear plain for drills.

"That's definitely a Brotherhood base," Beast Boy said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "The Brain always loved going for big and dramatic."

"And now Immortus has picked up where he left of," Robin said. "Cyborg, take us down."

"On it, Robin." The T-ship began to lower itself slowly towards the mountains, to land in a place that was hidden from the fortress's scanners.

But they had already been detected. An energy cannon mounted on one of the fortress's turrets swung around and fired a blast of concentrated power at the T-ship. There was no time to avoid it, and the ship's shields were not strong enough to repel a blast that powerful. One of the jet engines was sheared away, and the T-ship fell from the sky.


	10. Chapter 9: Crash Landing

**Chapter 9- Crash Landing**

The T-ship tumbled through the air, smoke trailing from the wound that the energy cannon had left. It was only through sheer force of will that Robin managed to keep himself from vomiting long enough to ask Cyborg for a damage report.

"It's not looking good, man," the other Titan said. "Both our engines are out, and we've lost a wing."

"Think you can still land us?"

"I don't know," Cyborg said, "but I'm gonna find out!" There was a clicking sound from Cyborg's end, and then the auxiliary engines kicked on with enough force to knock the T-ship back. Robin did his best to ignore the various (and disgusting) sounds coming from Beast Boy's pod as Cyborg manually directed the lurching aircraft towards the ground.

With a sickening crunch and a jolt, the auxiliary engines gave out as well- apparently they had taken at least some damage as well. Fortunately, the craft was now only a few dozen yards above the rocky ground. The T-ship fell into a sharp nosedive and slammed into the rocks, wrecking what remained of its systems, but the Titans on board were safe from major harm.

Robin attempted to open his cockpit, but found the large quantity of rock lying on top of it made this job rather more difficult than it should have been. Sighing, he removed a low-powered explosive from his belt and affixed it to the glass, pulling himself as far back as he could into the cockpit. With a muffled boom the canopy sprung open, sending the rocks flying, and Robin scrambled out, battered and bruised but whole.

He saw Beast Boy first, leaning against the side of the wrecked T-ship and looking decidedly greener than usual. He looked up at Robin with eyes that might have been furious if they weren't so woozy. "Please tell me we're never going to do that again," he managed to say.

"Well, I'll try to ask the bad guys nicely not to shoot at us next time until we're safely on the ground," Robin snapped. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

A calm hand touched his shoulder. "We know, Robin," Starfire said. "It is the General Immortus who is doing this- and we must stop him."

"I know," Robin replied.

From the other side of the ship came an agonized shriek. "My ship!" Cyborg wailed.

"Well, just look at it this way, Cy," Beast Boy said, "Now you can build an even better one!"

Cyborg shot Beast Boy a look that rivaled Slade for shear menace. "You're not helping."

Robin saw Raven glide silently out from behind her pod, and nodded. The team was all here- it was time to move out. "Come on, Titans," he said, motioning with one hand. "We're walking from here."

"Or maybe," a thickly accented voice said, "you'll be staying here and answering our questions. Cooperate, and we'll let you live."

Robin looked up and saw a dozen men in grey Brotherhood uniforms perched on the rocks, beam rifles pointed down at the Titans.

#############

Red X looked up as his door hissed open and a pair of Immortus's soldiers stood in the opening.

"What's the old man want now?" the thief asked irritably. "I've been having so much fun sitting here doing nothing."

The two men ignored X's sarcasm. "General Immortus," one of them said, emphasizing his superior's title, "wishes your company in his command chamber."

"Well, who am I to refuse the Forever Soldier?" X stood up and stalked out of the room, taking the guards by surprise. He looked over his shoulder at them. "Coming?"

Accompanied by the two Brotherhood soldiers, Red X marched through the winding halls of Immortus's fortress and came at last to the secluded command chambers. The old man was waiting inside, accompanied by a soldier holding a video camera that was hooked up to a control panel on one of the walls.

"It is time, Red X," Immortus said with a grin that wouldn't have looked out of place on a shark. "My new order begins here. I thought that you might be interested to witness the dawning of a new age."

"Thrilled," X muttered under his breath. If Immortus heard his sarcasm, he gave no notice.

"Are we ready, soldier?" the old general asked the man with the camera.

"Yes sir, Genera Immortus," he replied. "You are live- now."

Immortus stood straight and stared into the camera with a look of aristocratic disdain. "Peoples of the world," he rasped, "I am General Immortus, the Forever Soldier. Many of you may have heard of me, and most of you have dismissed me as no more than a myth, a fantasy. They are wrong. I was born before the pyramids of Egypt rose, and have lived through the rise and fall of empires. In my life, I have come to the realization that war is the driving force of humanity- only through conflict can we progress.

"But in this world today, that is not what is happening. You people have created a world where wars are fought not on the front, but in laboratories and conference rooms. Today, that changes. Today, I will remake the world into what it should have become since ancient days. Today I strip away your toys and your power, leaving you all at the mercy of any man with a gun. You must fight to survive, and you will grow strong- or else you will perish. Starting today, there will be eternal war."

Immortus made a chopping motion with his right arm, and the soldier lowered the camera. The old general turned towards a man who stood by the control panel. "Was the broadcast successful?"

"Yes, sir," the man said, studying his monitors. "We successfully hacked in to major networks around the world- your broadcast will have been seen by hundreds of millions already."

"You're announcing your plans to the whole world, just like that?" X asked, unable to contain himself. "Do you know you're acting like some Bond villain? And that those guys always get beat? Now everyone in the world knows where you are, and they'll all be coming for you."

Immortus smiled. "It will take them some time to trace my signal. By the time they do, it will be too late." He walked over to the control panel and removed a communicator. "Lieutenant General Smithson- is the weapon prepared?"

"Yes sir," Smithson businesslike voice came clearly from the other end. "We're fully charged from the Brain's power generator- it's carrying enough juice to wipe out every electronic device on the planet three times over. We're loading it onto the missile now."

"Excellent," Immortus rasped. "When the device is secure, you may fire."

Red X smiled tightly, the expression hidden by his mask, and ran a finger lovingly along the side of one of his X-shaped blades.

#############

"Drop your weapons," the lead soldier said, gesturing at the Titans with his gun. "Put your hands in the air."

"Sorry," Robin said, "but we're kind of busy right now, and you're in our way."

"Why you insolent little-" the officer began, but before he could finish his sentence Robin somersaulted up onto his rock, knocked the gun out of his hands, and pulled both of his arms behind him. The other soldiers raised their weapons but did not fire, apparently afraid that they might him their leader by mistake.

"Titans!" Robin shouted, "Go!"

The other soldiers whirled back towards the Titans, but they were too late. Cyborg raised his sonic cannon and fired off a powerful blast- not at the soldiers, but at the rock shelf they were standing on. The shelf gave way, sending a handful of grey-clad figures plunging to the ground in varying stages of hurt.

"You robot filth, I'll-" another soldier raised his beam rifle and aimed carefully at Cyborg's backside, but was unprepared for the green hawk that swooped down and raked across his face with its talons. The man fell back, cursing loudly in several languages, while the hawk wheeled around and seized the rifle, lifted it into the air, and tossed it off the cliff.

The man scrambled to his feet, pulling a pistol from his belt and aiming at the bird- only to find that it had vanished and a very large and very nasty-looking Tyrannosaur had taken its place. The man fired repeatedly, but the bullets simply bounced off of the dinosaur's thick hide. Finally the weapon ran out of ammunition, having done no appreciable damage. The soldier tossed it aside, shrugged, and looked up at the Beast Boy with a pleading expression. "I surrender!" he managed to gasp out.

The T-rex morphed into a green gorilla which regarded the soldier with sad, dark eyes. Then it lightly tapped him on the head, sending him crumpling to the ground in blissful unconsciousness.

Robin, meanwhile, had cuffed the commander's hands behind his back and left him lying helpless on the rocks while he took on the lesser officers. He held his staff in one hand, twirling it expertly as he struck rifles from the soldier's hands and then landed the well-aimed blows that brought them to their knees. With his free hand he hurled birdarangs, using them to keep the others off his back.

Behind Robin, one of the other Brotherhood men raised his beam rifle, preparing to take the Titan leader from behind. Before he could get off his shot, however, he was struck by what at first looked like a furious green and orange streak and slammed into the cliff wall, where he lay unmoving. Starfire stood over him, her hands and eyes glowing brightly. "You will _not_ hut my Robin," she hissed.

One of the men had fallen back, and was hiding in the shadows of the rocks. "Not possible," he muttered to himself. "This can't be happening! Have to get back to the fortress- warn the General!" He turned to run, but found his way blocked by a girl in a dark cloak who leaned casually against the cliff face.

The soldier raised his gun threateningly. "Get out of my way, or I'll shoot!" he ordered.

The girl looked at him with a flat expression. "You just haven't been paying attention at all, have you?" she asked, and made an almost lazy motion with one hand. The soldier stared in awe as his rifle rose out of his hands and struck him in the forehead, sending him spiraling down into darkness.

Raven looked down at the man and shook her head. "That was too easy."

#############

The Titans gathered all of the soldiers together near where the T-ship crashed and bound them with rope from Robin's utility belt, secured by Raven's magic. "What now?" Cyborg asked.

"What we were doing before," Robin said. "We're going to the fortress, and we're taking Immortus down."

Suddenly a loud bang sounded from the direction of the citadel. The Titans spun and saw a missile rising from a cloud of smoke and bright light, flying on an unerring path into the sky. One of the soldiers who was still conscious looked up at the receding form and smiled.

"You're too late, kids," he laughed. "Nothing can stop the General now."


	11. Chapter 10: The Stronghold

**Chapter 10- The Stronghold of General Immortus **

"Nothing can stop the General now!"

The soldier's words echoed through Robin's mind as he watched the rocket climb skyward, trailing white smoke behind itself. He didn't know what payload that missile carried, but something told him that it was connected to whatever Immortus had taken from the research base- and that whatever it was, it was a terrible threat to the entire world.

"Dude," Beast Boy whispered, "what are we gonna do?"

"We need to stop that missile," Robin said. "Whatever it is, if the General's men here are so happy about it, it can't be good."

Cyborg checked a scanner on his arm and looked up at Robin with a worried expression on his face. "It's giving off massive amounts of energy, whatever it is," he said. "Way more than an ordinary missile would need."

"All right- here's the plan," Robin said, motioning for the other Titans. "Starfire, Raven- you're our best flyers. Do everything you can to take down that missile. We can't let it do whatever Immortus has planned for it. Cyborg, Beast Boy, you're with me. We're going after the old man himself."

"Robin," Starfire said, stepping forward tentatively. "I believe the phrase you would use is 'good luck'."

"Yes," he said. "Good luck to you too, Star. I'm counting on you and Raven to take that thing down."

Starfire stood still for a moment, and then she lunged forward and wrapped Robin in a tight embrace. Robin returned it as best he could; though the Tamaranean's strong arms had his own very nicely pinned. Finally Starfire pulled away, allowing Robin to catch his breath. Then she and Raven shot off into the desert sky.

"Are you ready, man?" Cyborg asked after a moment.

"Yeah," Robin said with a tight smile. "Let's go."

############

Louis Giscard had never been known for being a remarkable man in any sense of the word. He was rather plain looking, neither intelligent nor particularly stupid, and possessed no true skills to speak of. He joined the Brotherhood under the Brain's leadership in Paris not because he was truly interested in a life of crime but because he simply had nothing better to do with himself. General Immortus appeared to have recognized Giscard's innate mediocrity, because he assigned him to the position of guarding the gate of a fortress that was protected by the vast, barren desert than it ever could be by human guards. Therefore Giscard began to find himself quite superfluous, not to mention bored, and he was seriously wondering whether or not his paycheck was worth it.

The guard paused a moment to wipe sweat from his brow- seriously, did it have to be this blasted _hot_ all the time out here?- and when he looked up again, he saw a peculiar sight. A cloud of dust was rising up from the desert, far too small to be a sandstorm- almost as if someone or something very large was coming towards the fortress. Giscard raised his binoculars to his eyes and brought them into focus- then dropped them to the ground with a clatter, stunned by what he'd seen.

A large, green Tyrannosaurus Rex, ridden by two humans (one of whom was wearing some sort of high-tech armor, or so it looked to Giscard) was charging towards General Immortus's fortress at top speed. Giscard blinked for a moment, quite unable to believe his eyes, and brought the binoculars up again to verify. Confirming that, indeed, the T. rex was real, the hapless guard cursed loudly in French and hurried off to sound the alarm- wondering idly exactly what the alert code for a dinosaur attack was.

############

The beam cannons were firing as Beast Boy charged up to the citadel's walls, Robin and Cyborg on his back. A few of the beams managed to score direct hits (though this did little damage to the thick-skinned dinosaur) but for the most part the shots went wide. The cannons were intended to fire at large masses of troops or slow moving vehicles, and were having a hard time targeting their living adversaries.

Still, they were annoying (and potentially dangerous, should a stray hit land on Robin or Cyborg), but the Titan leader was ready. As soon as Beast Boy was close enough to the walls, Robin jumped to his feet and hurled a series of small, explosive disks. One by one the bombs struck the cannons, doing varying amounts of damage but ensuring that those weapons emplacements nearest the team were in no condition to fire.

Beast Boy gave a growl deep in his throat when the beams had stopped firing and lowered his head, charging the wall at top speed. He slammed into it with all the force a seven-ton reptile could bring to bear- and bounced back, roaring in pain as the wall covered itself in seething bolts of electricity.

"It's trapped," Robin said. "Looks like Immortus doesn't want company."

"Maybe if we try together," Cyborg mused, priming his sonic cannon. "All right, BB- round two!" Beast Boy growled in the affirmative and charged the wall again, this time at the same time as Cyborg fired his built-in weapon. The two struck the wall together, and for a moment the electric defenses blazed- and then ceased altogether as the wall crumbled. Beast Boy shoved his way through the thick barrier, shrinking back to his true form as soon as he was on the other side. The green shapeshifter stood there, groaning and rubbing his forehead while Robin and Cyborg stood behind him.

"Raven always says I should use my head more," he said, "but I don't think she means it that literally!"

Robin gave him a moment to recuperate, then motioned for both his teammates to follow. "Come on," he said. "The guards will be here soon, and we need to get moving. We have to find a computer for Cyborg to hack so we can find Immortus and end this."

############

Red X looked over General Immortus's shoulder as the old man stooped over his security monitor, studying the image of Robin and his friends tearing their way through his elite forces like they were nothing. X would have found the scene rather amusing under ordinary circumstances, but he had no wish to laugh right now and earn the General's wrath. Megalomaniacs were notoriously touchy like that.

Besides, he had his new employer's goals to consider, assuming he wanted to come out of this whole affair rather richer.

"Pathetic," Immortus whispered to himself. "How is it that I am left with these imbeciles? Would that I had Alexander and his Companions with me now- they knew war!" The old man studied the footage again, his brow creasing in thought. "But where are the two females? Robin has divided his forces- but why?"

Red X had a pretty good idea, but he felt it was best to discourage the General from that line of thought. "You want me to go down their and handle them for you?" he asked. "It'll cost you extra, but your boys clearly don't have what it takes."

Immortus turned slowly to regard the thief. "That won't be necessary," he said. "We don't need to stop them- just hold them off until the device is activated. That must be where Starfire and Raven are- Robin sends his flyers to stop my missile before it reaches the upper atmosphere. But it is quite safe- my security measures will delay them until the device goes off, and then it will be too late."

"But what about the Titans here?"

Immortus smiled. "They are no doubt here to take me captive. But Lieutenant General Smithson has a surprise waiting for them, I think. Even if they make it past him, they will find that I am no easy prey." The Forever Soldier drew the sword from his side and held it up, the bright steel catching the light and reflecting the old man's skull-like face.

"It has been too long since I have crushed an enemy in single combat," he murmured, bringing the blade through lazy practice swings. X was no swordsman, but still he could tell that Immortus was very good, carrying out his moves with casual grace. "I must make certain my skills are still sharp after all these centuries."

X agreed that allowing Immortus to duel the Titans would be a good thing. Both parties would be thoroughly distracted, allowing the thief to make his planned move.

Immortus wouldn't know what hit him.

############

The three Titans had finally found a computer interface and Cyborg was plugged in, scanning the network for information on General Immortus's whereabouts. Robin and Beast Boy (in wolf-form, none of his favorite dinosaurs being small enough to fit in the tight corridors) stood behind him, fighting off what felt like dozens of grey-uniformed guards. Finally, the latest group of guards lying in a heap and still groaning, Cyborg turned back to his friends and reported his findings.

"Immortus is in his command center," Cyborg said. "Top floor."

"All right," Robin said. "Come on."

The Titans hurried through the mazelike corridors of the fortress, following Cyborg's directions and heading perpetually up. As they came closer and closer to the Forever Soldier's sanctum, though, Robin began to notice something strange- the hallways were empty. Before there had been the ever-present guards, but now even they were gone. Was Immortus so sure of himself that he had dispensed with all protection?

Finally they came to a high, thick door that completely blocked the passage. "We need to go through here," Cyborg said. "You two- stand back!" He brought his sonic cannon up and set off a blast at full power. The huge door was blown inwards, and the three entered.

It was a massive hangar, one of the walls lined with huge shapes covered in cloth, the other apparently a giant hatch that would open to allow whatever the strange forms were to enter and leave the fortress. Another door stood at the other end of the room.

"We need to go through that door, then straight up," Cyborg said. "Immortus is right above us."

"I wonder what those big things are?" Beast Boy said, staring around himself in awe. "At least there aren't any guards here."

"You shouldn't tempt fate like that, Titan," a loud, American-accented voice rang through the hangar. Beneath the cloth, one of the giant forms was stirring and rustling- and then, with a flourish, it tore the cloth away.

The revealed form was that of a huge robotic warrior, created in the rough image of a human being except for the fact that it was heavily laden with weapons. This was no true robot, however- the chestplate was clear, and inside Robin could see the form of its pilot, a man in a uniform similar to the one he saw Immortus wearing in Paris, though somewhat less ornate.

The machine raised an arm and aimed a huge beam cannon at the Titans. "Surrender now, boys," the pilot said, "and I'll let you live."

Cyborg shoved Robin out of the line of fire. "Go, man!" he shouted. "Get Immortus! BB and me can handle this anime escapee."

The beam cannon swiveled to aim at Robin, but before it could fire Beast Boy had grown into his Tyrannosaurus form once again and charged the giant battlesuit, forcing it back against one of the walls. Robin gave both his friends a parting look and a nod, and then turned and hurried down the hangar. They were doing this so he could get to Immortus. He wasn't going to waste it.

Robin blasted the door open with an explosive disk and hurried through, entering a corridor that rose steadily upward. The Titan leader ran along it until he at last came to another door. Drawing a deep breath, knowing what must await him beyond it, he pulled out another bomb and hurled it. The door blew inward, and Robin strode inside.

General Immortus smiled at Robin from where he stood in the center of the room, a naked blade in hand. Red X was at his side.

(PS- if anyone who's been reading this has not reviewed, please do so. I would greatly appreciate it Thanks a lot! MG)


	12. Chapter 11: For the Future

**Chapter 11- For the Future**

The wind rushed through Starfire's hair as she climbed into the sky. The Tamaranean's eyes were fixed on the steadily-growing speck that was Immortus's missile with absolute concentration, but she still took time to register the sensations of flight- the wind, the vanishing ground, and above all the sensation of flying free under her own power, unbound by gravity or any other restraint. It was for this that her people spoke of 'the unbridled joy of flight'.

Raven kept pace with her friend, the sorceress's eyes glowing as she gathered her magic to bring it to bear on the missile. Even though Starfire had once controlled Raven's powers herself for a brief time, she couldn't truly understand the kind of focus and willpower the other girl had to bring to bear to use the magic on this scale- it was simply too different from the way the Tamaranean mind worked. Her people were warriors, creatures of emotion. But still, having used Raven's dark magic Starfire could admire what it took for her friend to function at all.

"Starfire," Raven called, "I'm not sure how much good I'll be up here. That missile isn't magical, but it's giving off some kind of energy that's interfering with my magic- it's all I can do stay in the air."

"Do not worry," Starfire replied, her eyes burning green as she called on her own powers. "I think I can take it." Tamaranean powers were based on emotion- for what Starfire was planning to do, she needed anger, and lots of it. Fortunately, due to the circumstances anger was not a difficult state of mind to achieve. General Immortus had tricked them and arranged for them to be falsely imprisoned. Now he threatened countless innocent lives. Taking away his toy was the least Starfire could do to repay him for that.

As the missile came into close view, Starfire held out her hands and released the energy that had been building up in her body. Two huge starbolts burst from her open palms and shot towards the missile, each of them powerful enough to reduce it to scrap. They struck- and were dissipated in a cloud of green light and electrical sparks. Starfire gritted her teeth in frustration and hurtled forward, catching one of the missile's fins. Before she could drag it off course, though, the sparks came again. They coursed down the missile's casing and into Starfire's body in excruciatingly painful waves. The Tamaranean held on as long as she could, then slipped away, defeated.

With a disgusted start, Starfire shook herself. She couldn't give up so easily- Robin wouldn't, and he was depending on her. Robin went up against things more powerful than he was, and he won- because he had a plan. Starfire needed a plan too.

After a moment of thought, she decided she had one. "Raven!" Starfire called down. "I need your magic!"

"I told you already, I don't think my magic can hurt it!"

Starfire smiled. "You do not need to hurt it." Quickly, she explained what she had in mind. Raven nodded, looking impressed.

"I think it might work," she said. "Are you sure you're up to it?"

"No," Starfire said, flying back towards the missile, "but I will do it anyway!"

Closing in on the metal cylinder, Starfire seized its sides with all her strength. Electricity coursed through her body once again, but the Tamaranean held on, slowly forcing the missile off-course. It wouldn't go wild very far- but it didn't need to.

Raven was floating in midair in the path of the missile's new direction, legs crossed and eyes closed. The sorceress breathed slowly in and out, and then her eyes opened, now glowing a brilliant white.

Darkness swirled in the air in front of her, becoming a hole in the fabric of space and time large enough for the missile to pass through. Starfire let go and tumbled through the sky, her body sparking with continued shocks, but her part was done. The missile fell into Raven's portal and vanished, transported to some far-distant place. The threat was averted.

Starfire fell towards the earth, unable to muster the strength necessary to halt her descent. Her eyes closed, and for a moment she saw Robin's face in her mind, and she smiled at him to tell him she had done her best. Then, suddenly, her fall stopped. Starfire opened her eyes to see Raven hovering in front of her, projecting a magical field to keep her in the air.

"Did we succeed?" Starfire asked softly.

"Yes," Raven said with a rare half-smile. "We did."

#############

Cyborg found himself standing face to face with what would have been a little kid's dream come true- a giant robot and a Tyrannosaurus were about to launch into a winner-take-all deathmatch. Even in his late teens, he had to admit it was pretty cool- or rather would be cool, if it weren't for the fact that as the only normal sized person in the vicinity, he was now in serious danger of being stepped on, trampled, and otherwise smashed.

And then there was the fact that, though he wouldn't admit it to anybody but himself, he was worried about Beast Boy. The shapeshifter was a good fighter, and despite appearances could be quite clever in a pinch. But this combat machine Immortus's man was using was an unknown factor. Who knew what the thing could do?

Beast Boy roared as he smashed the battlesuit against the wall again and again. Cyborg switched his sonic cannon on and aimed for the thing's cockpit, hoping to take out the pilot, but it was no use. He couldn't fire without hitting BB.

Finally the green dinosaur pulled back, leaving the battlesuit stuck in a depression in the wall. Cyborg smiled and aimed his sonic cannon, then let off a powerful blast. It struck the suit in the chest- and bounced harmlessly away, deflected by some sort of force field.

"Did you think you could take me down so easily?" the pilot's voice thundered. "I made certain my technicians included defenses against your pathetic attacks." The suit lurched to its feet, and Cyborg groaned as he saw that it was completely undamaged.

The suit lowered its arm cannon and began to fire massive bursts of energy. Beast Boy tried to dodge, but his T. rex form was unwieldy and he took a direct hit. The giant dinosaur vanished and the green shapeshifter flopped to the ground by Cyborg's side, looking distinctly burnt.

"Someone get me the number of that battlesuit," he groaned absently.

"Think, Cy," Cyborg muttered to himself. "Come on- you're a genius engineer with a computer stuck in your head- it shouldn't be that hard to figure out how to take this thing down!" The best way to take something like this down would be through the legs, he knew- the whole 'giant armored man' look was intimidating, but notoriously top heavy. The trick was getting through that forcefield to disable the legs in the first place.

"Now then," Cyborg muttered, "force emitters can't protect themselves directly. I need to find the emitter, and take it down." He reached down and grabbed Beast Boy by the shoulder.

"Yo BB," he said, "No sleeping on the job. There's something I need you to do for me."

Before he could continue, the whirring sound of a giant motor filled Cyborg's ears. Looking up, he saw the battlesuit towering over him, so close he could make out the smirk on the pilot's face. The beam cannon was leveled right at them.

"I give you the chance to surrender again, Titans," the pilot said. "I so hate having to kill helpless kids."

"Take out the force-field generator- it's probably on his back," Cyborg said. "I'll keep him busy. Now go!" Beast Boy slipped into some form that was too small and fast for Cyborg to follow, and the suit's pilot paused for just a moment in confusion. That was all the time Cyborg needed to reactivate his own cannon and let loose blast after blast.

The sonic waves reflected off the force field, but the pilot was looking nervous- either the blasts could get through after a while, or he wasn't as cocky about the suit's abilities as he seemed. Either way, he brought his own cannon to the ready and fired a beam of energy that tore through the floor like tissue, but which Cyborg was fast enough to dodge. "Yeah, that's right," he said with a smile. "Come and get me, you big scrap heap."

Suddenly the suit stumbled- owing in large part to the giant gorilla that had just materialized on its back. Beast Boy gave a mighty roar and tore into the generator's housing- the force field sputtered and died. The suit twisted and thrashed, trying to get Beast Boy off, but the shapeshifter was hanging on for dear life and could not be easily dislodged.

Cyborg had his opportunity. He fired the sonic cannon strategically, aiming for the suit's knees. One after the other they blew off, and the whole assemblage stumbled, losing balance- and then collapsing in a heap.

Cyborg switched his cannon back into an arm and rubbed his hands together. The suit's pilot attempted to bring his own weapon to bear again, but the Titan simply rolled his eyes and stepped on the beam weapon with all his strength. It collapsed into twisted, useless mess.

"Boo-yah."

#############

"I am impressed, Robin," General Immoruts rasped. "There are few warriors who could have fought their way through my defenses the way you did."

"I really appreciate it," Robin, dripping sarcasm. "You stole a weapon of mass destruction, framed my team for the crime, and now you're using the weapon to try for world domination. That's more than enough reason for me to want to take you down."

Immortus held his sword before him and studied the blade carefully. "I accept your challenge, Robin. It will be a shame to see you die, but sacrifices must be made to ensure the future. Tell me, boy- do you know the blade?"

Robin drew a pair of his birdarangs and snapped them together, forming a single sword. "Yeah," he said. "The guy who trained me always says its best to be prepared for anything."

"A smart man," Immortus said. "This will make it easier- I am a warrior, not a murderer. I cannot bear to kill a defenseless man."

"It must be so hard for you."

Immortus gave a rasp of laughter. "Your spirit is impressive- it will be a pity to break it."

Robin was confident- Immortus had millennia of experience as a general, but that required a very different skill set from a front-line warrior, and his ancient body had every appearance of frailty. It was therefore to his great surprise that he found himself facing an opponent more dangerous than any he had faced since his last encounter with Slade.

Immortus drove at Robin in a rush, his strength and speed astounding from a man of his age and apparent weakness. The Titan leader barely managed to parry in time, and when he attempted to dodge around the Forever Soldier's defenses the old man's blade was there. Every move that Robin made was countered with astonishing speed, and the young warrior was slowly driven back.

Unnoticed by either combatant, Red X slipped over to the computer terminal and began to type.

"Surrender, Robin," Immortus said. "You cannot win. You are skilled, but I have faced a thousand so good, and they are all dead now."

"Really? Have you seen _this_ before?" Robin leapt into the air flat-footed and somersaulted over the old general's head, landing behind him. He brought his blade up to strike the old man's head with the flat- hopefully knocking him out- but Immortus was too fast. He spun and managed to block Robin's sword inches from his face. He heaved with inhuman strength, and Robin was thrown back.

"Why do you fight me?' the old man asked.

"Because you're a monster," Robin said. "When I was just a kid, I saw my parents killed in front of me. Same thing happened to the man who trained me. He said 'never again', and I'm following in his footsteps. If I let you carry out you're plan, it'll be world war. Millions will die. I can't let that happen, and my team and I will fight to the last breath to keep it from happening." He drove at Immortus with renewed fury, actually forcing the old man back a few steps.

"You are a fool," Immortus snarled. "What are lives to me? I was born before the pyramids, you little upstart. Human lifetimes are nothing more than a heartbeat to me. Why should I care about such trivial matters, when I have the power to shape the world? War is the forge in which humanity was made- it is in my eternal war that it will be perfected. It does not matter how many thousands of lives it takes to make it a reality!"

Robin smiled tightly. "Sounds like I know something about being a leader that you don't, old man- a good general loves his men."

Immortus snarled in inarticulate rage and stuck back at Robin with such force as the Titan wouldn't have believed possible. Robin was forced back towards one of the room's windows. He raised his sword in a final defense, but Immortus struck it so hard that the blade shattered. Then the Forever Soldier seized Robin in one hand by the collar of his cape and slammed him against the window. The glass shattered outward and Robin fell back, catching the windowsill just in time to save himself. He hung there, dangling pathetically, with Immortus standing over him.

"Where are your brave taunts now, boy?" the general asked, his voice now carefully controlled- almost pleasant. His earlier rage had been an act, Robin realized, to make his opponent think he was no longer in full control of his faculties. "You are beaten. Admit it, and I will end it quickly. Refuse, and the rocks below will be your healers."

"I never give up," Robin gasped. "Not here, not now, and not for you."

"You impertinent wretch!" Immortus snarled, and he raised his sword to strike at Robin's hands. Suddenly, from over by the computer, Red X cried out.

"General, the missile with Chang's weapon!" he said. "It's gone!"

"What?" Immortus spun towards the screen. "Impossible," he whispered.

"Lieutenant General Smithson's down too," X said, bringing up a presumably live image of Cyborg crushing the giant battlesuit's beam cannon.

"This is ridiculous. What else could go wrong?" the Forever Soldier demanded of no one in particular.

"This," X said, and inserted a small, red chip into the computer terminal. The screen began to flash wildly, and the whole system was emitting sparks. "Consider this my resignation, you old buzzard."

Immortus raised his sword. "Traitor!" he hissed. "You could have ruled by my side, but now you will face the fate of all mortal flesh!"

"Not today," Red X said, and hurled one of his throwing X's and the old man at point blank range. It lodged in his chest above his heart and stuck there, looking rather ridiculous. Immortus looked down at it and sighed.

"This body has endured millennia," he said. "Do you really think that weapon is enough to shut it down?"

"Yeah," X said, "but just in case it didn't…" he pressed a key on one of his gloves.

Robin pulled himself back up over the ledge just in time to see X push the trigger, and he found himself seemingly caught in time- he knew what was going to happen, but found himself powerless to stop it.

The device that Red X had used against the General was intended to destroy advanced security systems, such as the ones used by both Titans' Tower and Slade's various lairs. It electrified the target with a current so powerful it would fry the computer circuitry used to control such systems. Robin had never intended to use in on a human victim. Red X apparently had no such qualms.

The device activated and sent waves of electrical agony through Immortus's system. The old man screamed in terrible pain- Robin didn't think he would ever forget the sound of it, or the look of agonized horror in his bulging eyes. Finally, however, the current died- and when it did the Forever Soldier slumped to the ground, lifeless and smoldering.

"No human system could live through a current like that," X said almost sadly. "Not even his."

Robin whirled on X, fury in his eyes. "I thought you didn't do assassinations," he snarled.

"Come on, Robin," the thief replied, "grow up. He was a monster, and he would have destroyed everything either of us cared about if someone hadn't stopped him. This was the easiest way. In my line or work, we don't have time for your Sunday-school, Boy Scout morals, hero. Al that matters is getting the job done."

"He was a monster," Robin said, staring down at the pitiful body, "but he said it himself- he was alive before the pyramids. There was so much memory locked away in that mind, so much experience. Killing him was like destroying some ancient monument."

"Cry me a river."

A shadow fell over Robin and he saw Red X kneeling over the dead General, prying the sword from his hands. "What are you doing?" he asked sharply.

X shrugged. "Got a guy back in the States who'll pay a lot for this. An old friend- of us both, by the way. Anyway, I've got to be going." The thief rested the sword over one shoulder and strolled casually towards the broken window.

"Stop right there," Robin said. "You're coming with us."

"Why?" X said. "The government got the old man's broadcast and they'll be here soon- they'll see all this mess and know you were telling the truth. You don't need me to clear your name."

"That's not what this is about," Robin said, stepping forward. "This is about justice."

"Justice?" X asked. "Without you, Robin, I'd be just another street punk. If I'm a criminal, you're one too- because you made me."

Robin lunged forward, but X simply stepped off the windowsill and vanished. Robin looked over the edge and saw nothing- apparently the thief had activated his cloaker, and probably his anti-grav tech as well. Red X was a survivor, and suicide wouldn't be like him at all.

X's voice rang through the air, confirming it. "Next time, kid," it said, and faded away, leaving Robin alone in General Immortus's sanctum with the body of a man who'd been old when humanity was young.


	13. Epilogue: The Mastermind

**Epilogue- The Mastermind**

Red X slipped through the tunnels beneath Jump City like a silent shadow, guided by the directions his new employer had instructed him to follow if he wanted to claim his payment. The sword of General Immortus was slung over his back. Finally, X came to a place where the tunnel was blocked off by a pair of massive steel doors. The thief strode up to them confidently and looked up at the security camera that hung from the ceiling.

"I'm here with a package for the boss," he said. "Let me in." The camera whirred slightly, and then the doors slid silently open. X strode inside.

He found himself in an immense chamber that was filled with some sort of vast, incomprehensible machine, parts of which were continuously slamming, churning, or steaming. X didn't know what the machine did- he didn't particularly care. He activated the low-light scanners in his mask and began searching the room for his employer.

A viewscreen on one wall caught his attention. Stepping forward, he saw that it was a live news feed showing General Immortus's stronghold, now swarming with mostly American troops. "In light of recent events," the anchor was saying, "the United States government today issued a formal apology to the superhero team known as the Teen Titans, and-"

The screen went dark. Red X spun and saw a figure standing in the shadows of the great machine. Where he stood, the darkness was so thick that even X's night-vision couldn't make out much more than a tall, powerfully built silhouette. He held what looked like a remote control in one hand.

"I take it you're the boss around here?" X asked.

"That's right," the figure said, his flat and toneless voice the same that had spoken from the communicator. "I believe you have something for me."

"Right here." X slung Immortus's sword from over his shoulder and tossed it towards the shadowy figure, who caught it effortlessly. "The old man's dead, and his operation's wrecked- as per your instructions."

"Oh, I doubt he's dead," the figure said. "Even I do not understand the processes which keep him alive- it may well be that he will be able to regenerate from the damage you did to him, given time. But that is beside the point. The General's operations are crippled- they can no longer interfere with my plans."

"So that's why you wanted him taken out," X said. "You thought he was a threat to whatever it is you're planning."

"Precisely. General Immortus was a relic from a past age- personally I prefer to look towards the future. It was inevitable that we would come into conflict. Thanks to you, that is no longer a problem."

"I'm happy for you," Red X said impatiently. "Now, I believe I was promised a rather large sum of cash?"

"So you were." A briefcase came sliding out of the darkness, coming to a stop at X's feet. The thief picked it up and opened it- and there were row after row of crisp green bills. He activated another scanner in his mask and ran over them with it, then smiled. Genuine.

"Well, then," he said, "thanks for the money, but I have to be going." X turned to walk away.

"Not so fast, young man." The shadow's voice went colder than an Alaskan blizzard. X watched as he stepped out of the darkness, and he looked for the first time in the flesh on a figure anyone who'd paid the slightest attention to the Jump City papers over the last few years would recognize. Grey combat armor; a mask blank except for the fact that it was black on one side and copper on the other; a single, merciless eye.

"Slade," X said nonchalantly. "I guess I am in the big leagues now."

"I am offering you a permanent position, Red X," the masked mastermind said. "It has become common knowledge in certain circles that I desire an apprentice to act as my agent in the city above- and to inherit my empire when I am gone. I offer that honor to you."

"Sorry," X replied, "But I'm a free agent. I'll do jobs so long as I get paid, but working for someone else permanently? Not my style."

"It wasn't a request." Slade stepped back into the shadows and six of his unmistakable combat robots emerged from the corners of the great machine, weapons at the ready. "I'd hoped we could work together, but it seems that is not to be. Good-bye, Red X."

X chuckled bitterly as the robots gathered around him in a tight circle, then sprang into action. Leaping above the mechanical warriors' heads before they had a chance to fire, he pulled out several throwing x's and hurled them with unmistakable accuracy. Robot after robot fell, the weapons lodged in their processors.

X turned back to where Slade waited in the darkness. "You want to hire me again? You know where to find me. But I'm nobody's servant." Then he turned and vanished down the tunnel from which he had come.

In the room behind, Slade looked down at the remains of his robots with an inscrutable expression. This test had just proven what he had always suspected- Red X was a phenomenally skilled warrior, but valued his independence to much to permanently ally with any power. Still, Slade would find a way to make use of him. He always did.

"Trust me, Red X," he whispered, "I'll be in touch."


End file.
